Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 1.4%, selling 3,450 shares in the first quarter, leaving them with a total of 237,748 shares valued at approximately $37.14 million.
• Alphabet reported a strong quarterly earnings of $2.31 EPS, exceeding estimates by $0.19, with revenue rising 13.8% year-over-year to $96.43 billion.
• The company recently announced a dividend of $0.21 per share, to be paid on September 15th, representing an annualized dividend yield of 0.4% with a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 237,748 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,450 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $37,143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2%

GOOG stock traded down $0.38 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $239.56. The company had a trading volume of 19,969,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,427,350. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $199.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $242.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.55, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp set a $265.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $227.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.